Muhammad and The Jews — Page 80
to conclude that Sa"d's judgment was prearranged. ~' It is not without reason that Caetani has questioned the whole account of Sa"d's selection by the B. Quray:?ah as bakam. 1 The evidence is contradictory and mutually exclusive. It is not within the purview of a historian's task to express an opinion on Muhammad's claim to prophethood, but the belief of the Aws and Sa"d b. Mu"adh in his prophethood is a historical fact. The Aws and for that matter all the Muslims of Medina, who supposedly saw Abu Lubabah bound to one of the pillars in the mosque for being "false to God and his Apostle"2 and heard Sa"d praying for vengeance watched this "simulated justice",':' and yet there was not one who questioned it. The account given by lbn lsl}. aq, without his usual phrases of qualification such as za"ama or dhukira Ii or concluding remarks "God knows best", is rather unusual; it does not comply with his own standard of caution and scrupulousness. As we have seen earlier the incident concerning Abu Lubabah's self-imposed punishment does not fit into the context. It must be rejected. "The story as we have it" Watt rightly points out, "must have been manipulated". 3 The B. Quray {'. ah's choice of Sa"d as /:lakam does not stand to reason. Sa"d was not "Abd Allah b. Ubayy; there is not a single incident in his life which shows that the B. Quranah could depend on him in the way the B. Qaynuqa" did on "Abd Allah b. Ubayy. His loyalty to the Apostle and the cause of Islam was beyond doubt. Ibn Isl}. aq's report that the Apostle appointed Sa"d as the judge is supported not only by al-Waqidi but also by Ibn Sa"d. Above all it has the autho rity of al-Bukhari's second lf adith which is maifu" being reported by "A"'ishah, who was an eye witness of the whole affair. It seems to be more in line with the practice of the Apostle. In the absence of positive law during the earlier days of his stay in Medina the Apostle had adopted a policy of punishing a criminal through his kinsmen; it was based on two sound principles: there would be no tribal war of vengeance, and secondly it would be known that Islam had broken all tribal ties. Silkan b. Salamah b. Waqsh, who had conspired with Mul}. ammad b. Maslamahin killing ,:,. !. Cm. :i·. . :;, 4 :, _,. ; 1 Caetani, Annali dell' Islam, Vol. I, p. 632. 2 Ibn Hisham, p. 686. 3 Watt, Muhammad at Medina, p. 18 8, 80 '